MAS adds Bybit, Bybit Fintech to investor alert list

Singapore’s central bank regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, added crypto exchange Bybit and its corporate arm, Bybit Fintech Limited, to its Investor Alert List on Wednesday. The list flags entities that could be wrongly perceived as licensed, and MAS noted that Bybit is not licensed or regulated by the authority.

The regulator did not provide a specific reason for the listing. Bybit Fintech Limited now appears on the MAS website. Bybit did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

Bybit was founded by Singaporean entrepreneur Ben Zhou, but the exchange does not operate in Singapore. The firm’s service terms list Singapore among its ‘Service Restricted Countries’, which bars users in the city-state from accessing the platform. MAS records show no license or registration for Bybit.

The Investor Alert List is a public registry intended to warn consumers about entities and offers that may create the false impression of MAS authorisation, regulation or approval. The registry contains hundreds of entries.

The MAS listing does not itself impose licensing penalties. In May, MAS revoked the Major Payment Institution license of crypto liquidity provider Bsquared Technology after finding weaknesses in risk management, conflict-of-interest controls and instances of false or misleading information during licensing and inspections. Singapore police charged former Hodlnaut chief executive Zhu Juntao in May with multiple counts of fraud linked to the lender’s exposure to the 2022 Terra collapse; Hodlnaut suspended withdrawals in August 2022 and was later ordered to liquidate.

MAS placed Binance.com on the Investor Alert List in 2021; Binance does not appear among current registry records. The alert entry for Bybit warns consumers and market participants not to assume the exchange operates under Singapore regulatory oversight.